Beliefs

The Moravian Church is a mainstream Christian Church. We are members of the ‘World Council of  Churches’, ‘Churches Together in England’ and more locally, ‘Churches Together in Pudsey’.

The Moravian Church holds that there is no Head of the Church other than Jesus Christ. The Church  has adopted the ancient saying,

‘In all things essential, unity; In non-essentials, liberty; In all things, charity.’

There is no particular doctrine to the Moravian Church but there is an agreed statement of belief that unites members of the Moravian Church of every background and geographical or linguistic group called “The Ground of The Unity” which states:

“With the whole of Christendom we share  faith in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We believe and confess  that God has revealed Himself once and for all in His Son, Jesus Christ; that  our Lord has redeemed us with the whole of humanity by His death and His  resurrection; and that there is no salvation apart from Him. We believe that He  is present with is in the Word and the Sacrament; that He directs and unites us  through His Spirit and thus forms us into a Church. We hear Him summoning us to  follow Him, and pray Him to use us in His service. He joins us together mutually,  so that, knowing ourselves to be members of His body we become willing to serve  each other.

In the light of divine grace, we  recognise ourselves to be a Church of sinners. We require forgiveness daily,  and live only through the mercy of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. He redeems us  from our isolation and unites us into a living Church of Jesus Christ.”

The Ground of the Unity document can be found in full at the Moravian Church website.

Whilst we respect different faiths and beliefs, we believe that there is nothing that need separate all who accept Jesus as Lord.

The Moravian Church has an ancient name of Unitas Fratum, which means a Unity of brethren and sisters. This is still true today as there is a special bond between members of the Moravian Church from all over the World.

At Fulneck we have a simple and flexible form of worship that usually includes: singing of hymns and Psalms, prayers, Bible readings, an address and notices for the community. It is a service that appeals to all levels and may sometimes take it’s structure from a Liturgical service but the Moravian Church also believes in ‘free form’ to allow the service to meet the spirit of the occasion.

At Fulneck our regular service of Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper, is in the afternoon on the first Sunday of the month and is preceded by a Lovefeast, a service of shared news and light refreshments. We welcome people into the Church through Baptism, Confirmation and also Right Hand of Fellowship for people who have been members of other Churches and transfer their membership to Fulneck.

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